up, slowly turning it so that all could see it
in the uncertain firelight. At first they were puzzled and surprised;
then a murmur of recognition ran from lip to lip.

"You know this maid," Menard was saying, "this maid who to all who
love the Iroquois, to all who love the church, the Great Spirit, is a
saint. Her spirit has been for many moons in the happy hunting ground.
The snow has lain cold and heavy on her grave. The night bird has sung
her beauty in the empty forest. Catherine Outasoren has come back from
the land where the corn is always growing, where the snows can never
fall; she has come back to bear you the word of the Great Mountain.
She has come to tell you that the dog who broke the oath of the white
man to the Onondagas must suffer. This is the pledge of the Great
Mountain."

He stopped abruptly, and stood looking with flashing eyes at the
circle of chiefs. There was silence for a moment, then a murmur that
rapidly rose and swelled into the loud chatter of many voices. Menard
laid the portrait at the feet of the Big Throat, and took his seat at
the side of the maid,--but he did not look at her nor she at him.
Father Claude sat patiently waiting.

There was low talk among the chiefs. Then a warrior came and led the
captives out of doors, through a long passage that opened between two
rows of crowding Indians. The night was clear, and the air was sweet
to their nostrils. They walked slowly down the path. A group of young
braves kept within a few rods.

"It must be late," said Menard, in a weak effort to break the
silence.

"Yes," replied Father Claude.

"I suppose we had better go back to our hut?"

"Yes," said the priest again. But the maid was silent.

They sat on the grass plot before the door, none of them having any
words that fitted the moment. Menard brought out a blanket and spread
it on the ground, that the maid need not touch the dew-laden grass.

CHAPTER XIV.

WHERE THE DEAD SIT.

"They need not starve us," said Menard, trying to speak lightly. "I am
hungry."

The others made no reply.

"I will see what chance we have for a supper."

He got up and walked along the path looking for the guards. In a short
time he returned.

"They will bring us something. The sentiment is not so strong against
us now, I think."

"They change quickly," said Father Claude.

"Yes. It is the Big Throat."

"And yourself, M'sieu," the maid said impulsively. "You have done it,
too."

"I